


monochrome

by sukunaspawn



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff, Love, Post-Break Up, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29555898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sukunaspawn/pseuds/sukunaspawn
Summary: It's been nearly 2 years since you and Armin broke up on bad terms. As the days close in on the date of the breakup, you just can't drown out your memories of him.After auctioning your artwork online, you find out the highest bidder was your ex Armin Arlert.Not giving you enough time to recover from this surprise, he later sends you an invite to work with him on planning his next art exhibition.Little does he know that you're the artist. And little do you know that his current girlfriend works alongside him.
Relationships: Armin Arlert & Reader, Armin Arlert/Reader
Comments: 11
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *ongoing*
> 
> i do not own any of the characters mentioned in this fanfic, all rights belong to Hajime Isayama. any events that occur in this fanfiction are based on my imagination and any relation to real life events are purely coincidental.
> 
> this fanfic is in third person and the pov can change depending on the chapter. past events are italicised and emphasis on certain words are italicised.
> 
> armin arlert x fem reader
> 
> author's note:  
> this is my first time making a romance fanfic but i hope ppl enjoy :)

You heaved a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off your forehead with the back of your arm. Your arms ached so much from bearing the weight of lifting them up.

You set down the paint brush that was in your hand on top of the oak counter beside you, and shuffled a few steps backward to get a full view of another finalized art piece of yours.

In front of you stood an acrylic painting of a girl and her mother sitting on a set of swings, surrounded by roses.

Painting for nearly 8 hours was a worthy accomplishment despite the repeated hassle of running out of a certain shade of a color you mixed, and the numerous attempts to recreate the exact shade before the acrylic paint dried out on the palette.

It had been a while since you required a ladder to produce your artwork, and during the process you were constantly distressed over the thought of knocking over the easel by accident as the canvas was the size of double doors.

Of course, the whole thing was monochrome.

The same color of purple, consisting of various hues.

Your only weakness as an artist was not being able to implement more than one color in the same piece of artwork.

Whenever you tried to blend in two different colors, it would become the most noticeable mistake you were always able to identify when you looked at your work after completion.

Thinking about it, when even was the last time you attempted that?

Oh.

He's on your mind again.

You just can't remember to forget him.

"I miss you, Armin." You mumbled under your breath.


	2. Chapter 2

_ -1 year and 11 months ago- _

_ "Why." You asked with a faint whisper drawn out from your irregular breaths. _

_ It almost sounded as if you were pleading, desperate for an answer that would remedy the suffocating twinge in your chest. _

_ Truthfully, you had much more to say. However all those words were lodged in your throat, as if a barrier was involuntarily formed to shield you from any responses to what you wanted to say, that could potentially harm you more than it already did. _

_ The man in front of you was in just as much pain. _

_ Tilting your chin up to meet his stare, the guilt on his face was transparent. _

_ His eyes were glossed over, cheeks dampened from his tears, and his mouth slightly parted, as if he had something to say. _

_ The sight of you crying in so much pain was foreign to him, and he had no idea how to fix what he broke. _

_ "I'm sorry [F/N]." _

_ Using your forearm, you hid your eyes, allowing your overflowing tears to cascade and whimpers escaping that you tried to hold in by biting down on your lip. _

_ Awaiting for Armin's return induced impatience within you as he had been out for the whole day with his friend, and you watched as the long hand on the clock ticked past midnight. _

_ Although he did return your fretful texts with adequate replies along the lines of 'I'll be back soon' or 'Don't worry I'm fine', you were still adamant. _

_ Today was the only time where you chose to stand at the balcony to see Armin arrive back home, and you witnessed everything. _

_ You could immediately tell the friend was a girl from her nape length blonde hair as well as the dress and heels, however you couldn't get a glimpse of her face since she faced toward Armin. _

_ The moon was the only source of light that illuminated the two of them. _

_ She leaned in close to his face— it appeared like she whispered something to him and kissed him, cupping his face with her hands. _

_ He didn't move her off him. _

_ You were deprived of emotion— a newfound sensation of numbness engulfed you, as you felt useless for not being able to do anything but stare in shock. _

_ "Her boyfriend got into a massive argument with her, she called me because she was upset. She wanted to see me [F/N]. It was a mistake." _

_ His explanation only made you unconsciously create more misleading judgments in your mind. _

_ Your initial feelings of heartache converted into exasperation and resentment. _

_ Not showing any sign of response to Armin, it impelled him to outreach his hand toward your face. _

_ You gently back-handed it away and put your arms down at your sides, still avoiding eye contact. _

_ "Please [F/N], I really am sorry." Armin softly spoke up again and held both of your hands, kissing them as if this was his attempt to console you. His tears wouldn't stop, his heavy breathing being the only source of sound in the whole house. _

_ But 'sorry' wasn't what you longed to hear from Armin. _

_ After spending so much time with another girl who wasn't you, Armin stopped saying one thing. _

_ I love you. _


	3. Chapter 3

It had been almost 15 minutes and you still couldn't comprehend it.

Last week you auctioned the painting on eBay, and the listing ended this morning.

Leaning to get a closer view of what was on your computer monitor for the umpteenth time, your eyes wavered uncontrollably at the sight of his name.

Armin Arlert.

His name was displayed as the highest bidder of the auction, since he bid $140k. It was the highest price someone had offered to pay for an artwork of yours.

Just seeing his name as soon as you woke up gave you a headache with all these mixed emotions.

You were grateful that the name you were known for as an artist wasn't your real name, otherwise he would've known it was you. You had chosen to go under the name 'Indigo' over a year ago before you created a website to sell your artwork—there was no deep meaning behind it other than it being your favorite color.

Sighing in frustration, the side of your head resting on your hand tilted absentmindedly. You continued to be in a hypnotic-like trance at your computer, fumbling with the mouse.

He wasn't going to get off your mind anytime soon.

He confirmed the purchase of the painting, and now all that was left to do was to arrange the shipping.

You reassured yourself that personal feelings did not have a place in anything business related, and regained your composure.

To make preparations easier, you decided to begin composing the receipt. The receipt contained your contact information, including your phone number but it was one of the two phone numbers you had, and this one was strictly for business purposes.

After adding a copyright notice onto the receipt and printing it, you moved onto recording the buyer's contact information and info of the artwork they purchased onto your spreadsheet on Excel for what you sold.

Armin's phone number was still the same as before. You were still able to memorize his phone number until the last digit.

Shaking your head to purposefully dizzy yourself, you sighed agitatedly and rubbed the back of your neck.

You rose from your office chair in a sluggish manner and slipped on your slippers, trudging over to your garage. The feeling of nausea lingered after staring at a computer screen first thing in the morning.

Your garage substituted as an art studio and was also storage for the media you used for your artwork, since it was practically the size of a single bedroom. There were different colors of dried out paint covering some parts of the floor from all the times you accidentally kicked tins of paint.

Looking at the painting you were going to give away, you never realized how beautiful it was. The corners of your mouth upturned at the view of it.

Despite it being all in one color, the dark and light shades of it made the subjects in the painting more prominent. The dark shades of purple accentuated the shadows whereas the lighter shades highlighted where the light was reflecting.

As for what was happening in the painting, the mother's loving smile toward her daughter as they sat on the swings radiated feelings of warmth, the roses around them added onto the serenity of the painting.

A mother's love huh.

You felt your mesmerised smile curve back into a neutral expression.

Your mind cut back to your thoughts about Armin. You knew that he was an owner of an art gallery, however the address for delivery matched his home address. Maybe he bought it for decoration?

Obviously it was for decoration, what else did you think?

Losing yourself in a hypnotic-like trance at the painting with your arms relaxed at your sides, you exhaled heavily in attempt to prevent your head from overheating because of the many things going through it.

This was the last time you would have anything to do with him. And that was a promise you hoped to keep.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm heading out now, I'll be back by 5."

"Yeah, see you later Annie." Armin replied as she planted a kiss on his cheek, not turning to look at her.

As soon as he heard the door shut, he groaned and slouched in his chair, spinning lazily.

Silence slowly filled the emptiness of the house.

He was browsing through multiple websites for new things to put around the interior of his house. Whenever Annie visited, she would always complain about the paintings and sculptures, and how he shouldn't bring anything work related home.

Armin had always cared about every critique someone made about his actions and as a result, he took down everything in his house that seemed like it was too artistic and hid them away in the attic.

Although it did dishearten him a bit that Annie didn't share the same passion for art outside of work, he still wanted to make her feel comfortable inside his home since she was his girlfriend.

It was difficult trying to find items that didn't stand out as artistic, but he didn't want his house to be viewed as unsophisticated either—which was also another comment he received from a friend he had about his house years ago.

While going through eBay, there was something he came across that struck his eye.

A monochrome painting.

This sense of familiarity made him feel sentimental, reminiscing about the times he listened to [F/N] ranting about her hate for the use of more than one color when it came her artwork.

He didn't realize that he was smiling while thinking about his ex.

Persistent knocking at his door interfered with his daydreaming, and he automatically stopped smiling.

"Not him again." Armin muttered to himself as he got up to go downstairs.

Opening the door, he was met with an unwanted guest grabbing his hands.

"I need your help."

"Eren, this the third time this week that you've shown up at my place unannounced."

Eren let go of Armin's hands and fell to his knees, putting his hands together in front of his head while looking at the ground.

"This time Levi told Mikasa to take away my gaming setup and hid it in someplace I don't know about. Please I swear, this is the last time I'll ask for anything this week, I have to stream for two hours in less than 20 minutes!" The man pleaded in desperation.

"What are you even doing for this to happen?"

"I don't know—maybe it was because I measured my height a few days ago and brought it up in a conversation with Mikasa while Levi was nearby." He pondered, finally realizing what he had done.

'Ah, so that's why', Armin spoke in his thoughts.

"You know the man's sensitive about the topic of height, you shouldn't have done that." Armin was slightly ticked off at how Eren kept getting into more trouble than normal recently.

The first time Eren came to Armin for help was to stay for one night in his guest room, because Levi refused to sleep on the sofa due to the invisible crumbs he was only able to see—Eren's bed was a much more cleanlier option to him and Levi scolded him for not cleaning his sofa properly, and so Eren was forced to make up for it by letting Levi take his bedroom for his night over at his cousin's.

And the second time was to ask Armin for cleaning supplies. Levi voluntarily cleaned Eren and Mikasa's house from top to bottom and practically became their unpaid housekeeper—he ordered Eren to buy more cleaning supplies but the stores were too far away for him to get any, so his last option was to go to Armin to avoid another harsh scolding. Armin practically became a Good Samaritan for his friend.

"Alright, you can come in." Armin sighed heavily and widened the door open, allowing Eren to enter.

"Thank God." Eren got up from his knees and rushed upstairs, already knowing where Armin's office was.

"Hey, don't touch anything just yet!" He ran after Eren, worried that he could make a mess without being under his supervision.

Armin didn't just have his work stuff in his office, but he also had his own gaming setup for whenever Eren came over to play a game of Valorant—doing this was his compensation for Eren being a supportive friend through his breakup with [F/N].

"Is that one of [F/N]'s paintings?" Eren bent down and leaned toward the screen, pointing at the image of the painting.

"No, it just looks really similar." Armin replied, reaching for the mouse as he planned to close the tab.

Eren got hold of the mouse before he could, "Hey, you should totally buy it. I noticed that your house is starting to look empty."

"Annie doesn't like any artwork being displayed, so I'm trying to find decorations that are useful and don't look artsy."

Eren laughed, "That's practically impossible for decorations— decorations are supposed to look like they stand out, isn't that the purpose of having them? I'm surprised that she doesn't like artwork being displayed despite being affliated with the art industry. And plus, not having anything colorful looks depressing, especially when your house is only black and white—oh, and gray."

"Maybe she's tired of seeing art since she has to look at it all the time at work." Armin managed to stifle a laugh as he rubbed the nape of his neck.

Armin didn't take any offence to what Eren said since it was the truth—searching for decorations that he liked that had no patterns or bright colors was an impossible task, since he didn't like patternless or colorless things at all.

"Also, haven't you only been with Annie for nearly two months already? You shouldn't force yourself to change for someone who's just been your girlfriend for a short time."

"But I want to—I need to. I don't want her to get the wrong impression of me." Armin grabbed a stool and sat beside Eren, who sat in the gaming chair and put on a headset.

Eren sighed at his response, "Suit yourself, but I'm buying this for you."

He swiftly typed in the first amount of money that came to mind and clicked enter.

"Hey, what was that!" Armin moved his head to the side to view what Eren just did and gasped, "Why did you bid $140k for this?"

"Consider this my payment for what I've troubled you with." Eren smirked, feeling proud of himself and crossed his arms, leaning his head backwards. "Don't bother taking it back either."

"Your so-called payment to me was paid out of my own money." Armin rubbed his temples in frustration, but he wasn't entirely annoyed about the amount of money. The listing for the bid was going to end tomorrow so he didn't think about retracting it.

He was able to cover the cost and thought of it as a generous donation to the artist he was buying from, as well as another artwork to add to the paintings in his attic that were starting to collect dust.

"Anyways, is it fine for me to prepare for my stream now? It's starting in 10." Eren shifted the conversation.

"Fine, just make sure you close all the tabs on everything." Armin got up and headed towards the door, grabbing the handle.

"Oh, and before you go." Eren halted his exit, making Armin turn his head toward him. "Try to smile more. I'm kinda worried for you."

Armin nodded in response and then walked out, closing the door behind him.

'Do I still not smile regularly?', he thought to himself, as he leaned his back against the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Rays of sunlight shone through the window as Mikasa flung the curtains open.

"What the hell." Armin murmured under his breath as he was awakened by sudden change in lighting.

He then proceeded to roll over to the other side of his bed and face-planted into his second pillow, pulling the duvet over his head to blanket himself in darkness.

Having a double bed was convenient since he always moved around in his sleep.

"Get the fuck up, Armin." Mikasa yanked the duvet from him and threw it across his room. He recognized who intruded his house in broad daylight.

It hit the bookshelf on the other side of his room, resulting in a few books falling from the impact of her throw. It was impressive considering the heavy weight of the duvet, but it wasn't that surprising to Armin since she was a martial artist. Mikasa's strength was unmatched.

"I was going to get up in five minutes anyway, it's Sunday." He mumbled into his pillow, still loud enough for Mikasa to hear. Armin didn't budge from his sleeping position when she tossed the duvet away.

"Five minutes my foot, you said that same shit last week when I messaged you, but you ended up bunking our meetup. You know me and Eren left you so many missed calls and voicemails." Mikasa ranted, her words laced with agitation. "You're no better than Eren when it comes to waking up."

"You broke into _my_ house." Armin was annoyed by Mikasa disrupting his weekend rest-in at seven in the morning.

"This is why you don't leave your spare key under the doormat, it's like you're asking to be stolen from." She twirled the keys with her index finger, "Also waking you up should've been your _new_ girlfriend's job, not mine."

Her last sentence coaxed Armin into sitting up and he turned toward her, "Just let it go already."

Mikasa had emphasised 'new' in order to get a reaction from him but at the same time, she also did it to express her dislike toward Annie. She held not one but two grudges against her.

Back in high school, she witnessed Annie hit Eren because Eren wanted to see how strong she was from the rumors he heard—Mikasa didn't care about Eren's stupid reason and one-sidedly defended him since Annie smirked at the red handprint she left on his face.

And the second grudge was for Annie being a homewrecker. Mikasa drove half an hour to reach [F/N], after hearing her cries when she got an alarming phone call about the breakup at nearly one in the morning—the car tires screeching jolted Eren up from his sleep that morning.

Mikasa also held a slight grudge against Armin for hurting [F/N], and not resolving the situation between them properly. But her anger was mostly directed to Annie.

"Anyway, now that you're finally up, please do something productive that isn't paperwork. Eren told me about you not acting like your usual self recently and now I'm seeing it for myself." Mikasa walked toward the door then turned back to Armin, "Eating takeouts all the time isn't healthy either."

Mikasa still cared for Armin like she did for Eren despite everything that happened. No matter what, the trio remained inseparable.

After hearing her shut the front door, Armin let out a sigh after staring at his floor and stood up from his bed.

Following Mikasa's advice, he brushed his teeth, washed his face and took a shower. While going back to his room, he looked at the mirror at his undercut hair and noticed the increase in length as it went past his eyes.

Being too lazy to use a hairdryer, he left the hair towel on top of his head while getting dressed. He wore the usual—black suit trousers with his white long-sleeve cuff shirt, which he buttoned the cuffs on but always left unbuttoned twice at his neck.

He accessorized his outfit with a black belt that had a gold buckle, and an Armani gold and black leather men's watch.

Even though it was sunny with clear blue skies, it didn't stop the weather from being cold so Armin put on the pair of baby-pink fluffy socks he was given as a funny gift from his colleague at a workplace christmas party—at least he found a use for them.

He slipped his adidas sliders on and headed down to his kitchen. His hair was still wet despite towel-drying it.

Armin wasn't bothered to go back upstairs and took a glass from the cabinet to get a water from his fridge. He left hand leaned on the edge of the black marble counter as he gulped down the water, looking at his ceiling light.

"Maybe it's time for a haircut." He mumbled to himself as he twisted front strands of his fringe.

Grabbing a pair of sewing scissors from the drawer, he walked back up to his bathroom.

He combed through the front of his hair, trying to make sure it was fairly straightened out while it was still damp, ready to cut.

Holding the scissors up to his hair, he abruptly paused.

Not because he wasn't sure about the length he was going to snip off first, but because of the thought of [F/N].

The memories of whenever she became his personal hairdresser every time his hair needed a trim.

Most specifically, the memory where she accidentally cut the front part of his hair diagonally and it left him with a dodgy slanted fringe for a month. She couldn't look at him without bursting into laughter at her ridiculous mistake.

[F/N]'s heartwarming laughter was contagious to the people around her, especially to Armin.

He felt the corners of his mouth upturn at the flashback he was having and looked at the mirror.

So this was the effect [F/N] had on Armin.

He sighed and put down the scissors, reflecting for a moment.

"Maybe I should save the haircut for next time or get Annie to do it." He smiled to himself, as he walked out the bathroom thinking about [F/N].


	6. Chapter 6

"Where did the meat go– Sasha!"

Connie helplessly stared in defeat with his mouth agape, as the last piece of meat was being devoured by Sasha. You, Krista, Eren, and Mikasa watched the drama unfold before your eyes.

"My stomach was calling for it." She lightly patted her stomach and grinned.

You along with the rest of the group laughed simultaneously as Connie whined about Sasha's superhuman appetite.

Sasha received her paycheck for this month yesterday and invited some of her close friends to eat at a korean barbecue restaurant.

Of course, you couldn't refuse the invite for a free meal.

"Hmph." Connie slumped back into the chair, mourning over the loss of the meat.

"I heard that there's an arcade nearby that opened recently, we should check it out." Krista clapped her hands together, a bright smile plastered on her face. "I wish I could've brought Ymir but she had to cover someone's shift at work."

"Let's go." Eren announced with a serious tone of voice, slamming his hands on the table as he stood up.

"Wow, he's really worked up." You laughed at Eren's reaction.

"Yeah, I can finally beat Mikasa at something this time." He crossed his arms and smirked, receiving a side-eye glare from Mikasa.

Sasha raised her hand, "Can we get the bill?"

After paying, you all walked to the arcade which wasn't too far from where you ate at. On the way, Eren and Connie kept drawing attention to the group from their frivolous skipping, and the rest of you tried to further yourselves away from the two to avoid sharing the embarrassment.

"We're here!" Eren ran toward one of the arcade games near the entrance which was a UFO shooting game, and motioned to it while smirking at Mikasa with confidence.

She responded with a competitive smirk and walked over to Eren, who was leaning on the game he chose, "Oh, it's on."

You looked over at the others, and they were already occupied by the games that caught their eye.

Sasha and Connie were playing a ninja fruit game, smiling in concentration.

Krista was at one of the claw machines, trying to catch the cute baby-blue elephant that kept slipping from the grasp of the claw. She furrowed her eyebrows at her every failed attempt but stayed focused while retrying. She looked determined, which made you chuckle.

You walked around and explored the place, looking for a game to play. There were a range of them, from basketball shooting to spin-the-wheel. A zombie shooting game piqued your interest, and you picked up the gun.

You quickly became invested in killing the virtual zombies, your grip on the gun tightening every time a zombie got close. 

After a few rounds, you gave a small yet proud smile at the high scores that you earned that appeared on the scoreboard. However, you were getting tired from being by yourself so you started searching for the others.

While walking around, you found Mikasa and Eren. And someone else.

You instinctively hid sideways behind the arcade game next to you and turned around to peek at them, only the top half of your head being exposed.

"What are you doing here Armin?" Mikasa hissed, Eren holding one of her arms with two hands with a nervous expression on his face. He looked like he was struggling to restrain her.

You couldn't help but spy on their conversation. This was the first time you've seen Armin since you parted. You noticed the little changes in his appearance—his hair was a bit longer, and he seemed to be more muscular from his shoulders and biceps.

Despite that, he still hasn't changed the outfit he wears in public, a white long-sleeve cuff shirt and black suit trousers.

You shouldn't be thinking of this at the moment.

"Annie wanted to bring me here." Armin stated with a stoic expression, staring straight at Mikasa.

Annie? The name sounds somewhat familiar.

So he did move on.

Your heart immediately sank at that realization. Why did you suddenly feel like you lost something?

"You need to fucking leave, _now_." She snapped at Armin and tried to take a step toward him, but Eren's hold on her arm was like a leash.

It was probably because you were here at the same time he was. She knew you would feel hurt if you saw him.

But that wasn't the case right now–your feelings of hurt were overpowered by the feeling of longing.

"Why should I? You need to stop telling me what to do." You could tell from Armin's tone of voice that he was aggravated. He bit the inside of his cheek, slowly losing his patience in the situation he was in. You knew about how much Armin disliked Mikasa's outbursts.

People nearby started to glance over at the minor commotion they were creating.

"Mikasa we should just leave him alone, we can leave with [F/N] now." Eren suggested through a loud whisper, tugging at her arm.

Mikasa's eyes widened, processing what Eren said. He had revealed what she wanted to hide from Armin.

"[F/N] is here?"

You felt your breathing halt at Armin's question.

You were beginning to regret eavesdropping for too long.

"For fucksake Eren." Mikasa whispered through her gritted teeth and her ears were red.

Eren became pale at Mikasa's comment, slowly grasping the mistake he made.

"Armin, I found something we can play–" The voice of another girl cut the thick tension in the air between the three of them.

The blonde-haired girl walked over to Armin, wrapping her arms around his right arm.

The small smile she had for Armin faded into the same stoic expression he had, at the sight of Mikasa.

Her presence felt like deja vu all over again.

Was this the same girl from that night?

"You just had to be here too." Mikasa's anger started to boil over, and Eren's grip on her arm was loosening as her strength increased with each attempt to free her arm.

"Annie, should we leave? We can always come back another time when there aren't any disturbances." He looked into Annie's eyes, then darting a subtle glare at Mikasa, and Eren too.

That motherfucker.

Did he seriously call you a disturbance too? Why did it even matter this much?

Tears welled up in your eyes, and slight sniffles followed. You were annoyed at the fact you were crying over something that you swore to yourself was already over with.

But you still missed him.

Who knew a single word could feel like a kick to the stomach.

Rubbing the tears in your eyes with your sleeve, your legs had a mind of their own and ran the opposite way from where they were, bolting for the exit.

You ignored the concerned looks people gave you from the corners of your eyes as your eyes hid behind your sleeve– your only objective right now was to get out of there.

At the same time, you felt the thuds of someone else's footsteps as if they were following after you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 05/03/2021
> 
> heyy so i decided to extend chapter 6 by combining what the initial plan was for chapter 7 since it seemed too short, i hope it wasn't that bad. i might reword chapters in the future when my writing improves but the events won't change <3
> 
> sukuna's pawn♟


	7. Chapter 7

_ –First year of high school– _

_ It had been already two months in high school and spending your lunch break in homeroom became a daily routine. _

_ When were you finally going to push away that anxiety and initiate the conversation with someone first? _

_ A sigh escaped your lips as you poked at the inside of your empty lunchbox with your fork. You were lucky enough to be seated at the back corner of the classroom by the window, earning you the nice view of the clear blue skies. _

_ You had accepted that nobody in your class wanted to be friends. They would walk up to your desk and talk to you first only for their own gain, which was either for copying answers or borrowing pens.  _

_ However you weren't bad at communicating when someone else started a conversation. _

_ "Can I sit here?" _

_ A quiet voice spoke, loud enough for you to hear. _

_ Looking up, you met the gaze of a boy with ocean eyes, with blonde hair in the style of a bob with bangs. _

_ You were too lost in your own space of thoughts that the senses around you didn't detect his presence. _

_ "Sure, I don't own the chairs here so you didn't have to ask anyway." You joked, the boy's face flushed slightly pink as he averted his gaze. _

_ His sheepish personality became visible to you as the fingers on his right hand skidded across the palm of his left repeatedly. _

_ How cute, you thought to yourself as you smiled in awe. _

_ "O- Okay." He nervously pulled the chair from the desk in front of you, and pulled it to the front of your desk so that you were in his line of sight. _

_ "Hey you're not from my class aren't you." You put the fork down and your arms rested on the desk. His face wasn't familiar to you whatsoever. _

_ "You're right, I'm from the class next to this one b- but I wanted to talk to you." He stated shyly, making eye contact with you. It seemed like he was trying to be brave. _

_ This was the first time someone from another class spoke to you, but why? _

_ "What for? If it's for a pen then I can gi-" _

_ "-No, no, I didn't come here to ask for anything." He interjected, waving his hands dismissively. _

_ He then held onto his thighs and looked down, "I always see you alone, even when we don't have class." _

_ "So is it for pity because I'm a loner?" You asked humorously and out of curiosity. _

_ "No!" He looked back up as your words drove him into a panicked state, worried that he might have offended you in some way. _

_ He's just so fun to tease. _

_ "Pity isn't a bad thing you know." You replied with a reassuring smile, "It can bring some people together." _

_ "Mhm." Your smile seemed to calm him down. _

_ Something about him gave you the confidence to speak more. _

_ "Usually people introduce themselves with a name when they meet people for the first time." _

_ "Oh! I'm Armin. Armin Arlert." He declared, as if he was at a job interview. It was slightly funny. _

_"[F/N]. [F/N] [L/N]." You replied, giving a friendly smile. _

_ There was a short moment of silence between both of you, and awkwardness was growing in the air. _

_ "I'm not sure about how to continue this conversation since everyone only ever goes up to me for answers or pens." You spoke up honestly, rubbing the nape of your neck, "I don't really have anything interesting about me either." _

_ "You do." Armin responded. _

_ "Huh?" _

_ "You're in the art club right? I was actually considering joining after seeing your art when I passed by the art room last week, I thought it was really beautiful." He coyly spoke, with a soft tone in his voice. He seemed to be opening up a bit. _

_ This wasn't the first time someone complimented your work, but this was the first time you felt like a compliment meant so much to you. Even worth more than your parents'. _

_ "O- Oh, thank you." A shy smile crept up on your cheeks. _

_ "To be honest, I'm not very good at any aspect of art but I think it would be fun to try it out."  _

_ "You don't have to be good at it to enjoy it. I don't think my work is that impressive though-" _

_ "But it is! You're really talented [F/N]." _

_ Your eyes slightly widened at his denial toward your opinion. Maybe it was the sheer enthusiasm encased in his words, but it was somehow rewarding. _

_ "Thank you, I guess it's because I like doing art so much." You grinned. You could tell his admiration was genuine, with no detection of any lies. _

_ "Speaking of which, do you know where I can sign up?" _

_ "Jean runs the club, so I think you can visit him in the art room during lunch break or after school. He's always in there." You informed him, "Maybe we can go there after next period-" _

_ The school bell chimed for next period, marking the end of lunch break. _

_ "I'll meet you outside this classroom after next period then so we can go together." He smiled as he stood up from the chair and returned it to its original position, "I hope we can talk more later [F/N]." _

_ "Yeah, me too." You replied as you returned his smile. _

_ You sent him a small hand wave, watching as his figure disappeared from your sight. _

_ While putting your lunchbox into your bag, other students started entering the room. _

_ Your chin rested in the palm of your hand as you turned away to look at the sky, giving you the time to reflect on your thoughts. _

_ Maybe something was starting to change. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 06/03/2021
> 
> i've decided to post another chapter today since i'm gonna have to go back to school physically soon, so i wanted to provide as much content as i can<3 i won't say any spoilers BUT CAN WE TALK ABT HOW ISAYAMA REALLY CHOSE VIOLENCE FOR CHAPTER 138 OF THE MANGA 😐 my tiktok fyp is full of tiktoks of people crying over it and sad fanart, I'M LITERALLY IN SHOCK AND DEVASTATION
> 
> anyways i hope this chapter isn't bad, bc i'm not very confident in my writing skills but love you guys mwah<3
> 
> 07/03/2021
> 
> i'm planning to edit some of the chapters when i have time but some of the events won't change, i just feel like there's not enough emotion being built up which is supposed to be the key for this fanfic
> 
> gonna try to upgrade my vocabulary too but not to the point where people won't understand it lmao
> 
> mwah<3
> 
> edit: bruh i just had an idea for a fem reader x oikawa fanfic but it'll probably be one long chapter
> 
> but i don't think i'll be able to do two projects at the same time so i'll just start planning the outlines for it 
> 
> sukuna's pawn♟


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